Back when I was a golf pro, I went out one night after work for a 9-hole round with a college player that carried only a single club called a chipper. For you non-golfers, a chipper is designed to let high-handicap players – ie: people that aren’t very good – more easily chip a ball up onto the green when they are just off. It basically resembles a putter with an angled head and has a putter grip. (Any decent player would just use like an 8-iron...)

So, College had found this club in our lost and found and as a joke wanted to see how low a round he could shoot using nothing but this chipper from tee to green. Tee shot, he played the ball back in his stance, hooded the chipper down, and blasted it out about 220 yards. Approach shot, he played the ball up in his stance, opened the face up a bit, and lofted the ball high and soft onto the green. Around the green, the chipper was, well, just a chipper, but surprisingly deadly-accurate with his scratch level skills. And to putt, he just bladed the ball with the chipper. I, on the other hand, had my full set of 14 clubs.

At the end of the 9 holes, I carded a respectable two-over, 38; College fired a one-over 37, beating me to his great delight.

Conversely, I can’t tell you how many golfers I have beaten – soundly – who carried far better equipment than I did; the latest graphite shafted irons, composite drivers and Teryllium-faced putters. In fact, it was kind of a running gag in the Pro Shop; the bigger, more gaudy the bag, the more of a hack the player. (And if you ever see any golfer with covers on their irons, I guarantee that they suck. Automatic. Walk up to that guy and get him into a $20 Nassau with automatic presses at two-down. You’ll thank me in the clubhouse later.)

The point is, appearances can be deceiving and ultimately, it isn’t about the tools or the look, but about the skill of the person using them.

Continue reading to see a variety of ways we can apply this to the custom installation business...